NERVOUSNESS AND VICE. 



intentional deceit to a ''nervous" "old stager," 

 I make bold to assert that many crafty, dan- 

 gerous brutes pose before their owners as ill- 

 used victims of a too highly strung nervous 

 system. Take, for instance, an aged horse, like 

 many I have met, that snorts with apparent 

 terror at anyone that approaches him, and is 

 ready, on the slightest chance of reaching his 

 mark, to strike out in front, or lash out from 

 behind, if saddling or mounting him be attempted. 

 His nervous emotion, the first time he was taken 

 in hand, or the first time he began his unpleasant 

 tricks, may have been thoroughly genuine ; but 

 its exhibition was evidently attended with the 

 result of his more or less successfully resisting 

 control. This act of insubordination having 

 revealed to the horse the extent of his own 

 power, which, to every animal, is a pleasurable 

 sensation, was naturally repeated again and again, 

 until the vicious habit was confirmed ; although 

 its necessity might have been, scores and scores 



